Switcher still going strong after almost 2 years

macrumors 6502

I joined MacRumors in May of 2003, and bought my first Mac, the iBook in my sig below in December of the same year. Between the time I joined, and the time that I bought my iBook, I got tons of info and suggestions from these forums. So almost 2 years later, here's where things stand.

I can count the number of times I've used PCs on one hand. I have used Virtual PC, but currently I don't have it installed. Since I went for the iBook (my first Apple), I've bought 2 iPods, a Pro Keyboard, a Mighty Mouse, Airport Extreme card & Express base station, TV-out cables, and I've gotten an iSight as a gift. I don't know if I've gone overboard, but I've certainly found good use out of all my Apple products.

The iBook itself has worked out very well for my needs. At the time I bought it, I had decided to max out the memory (at the time, 640 megs) which is still fine today. I didn't get Bluetooth (optional at the time) and I didn't get AppleCare, which I probably should have, for reasons I'll outline below.

But problems aside for now, this iBook has been great to me. I love the portability and the battery life. After my last laptop (cheapo Compaq Presario) battery faded from a peak of 2 hours down to 13 minutes (also 2 years after buying the machine, incidentally), and my Canon digital camera's battery killing itself after 8 months, I had more or less given up on batteries, thinking them all prone to failure. Well, this iBook battery hasn't faded at all that I can tell. I love it. I can actually work with this thing, at the office or at a friend's house. No need for me to bring the AC adapter along "just in case".

Performance-wise, this iBook honestly hasn't fallen behind. 2 years ago, when Panther was the current release of OS X, I could run most anything except for games and Pro apps. It remains the same today, for the most part. I don't feel like I'm using outdated technology.

It's not all good news though: I have had my share of problems. Just 2 days ago I had to send my Mighty Mouse back. The scrollball wouldn't scroll down, although the other directions worked. I wouldn't hear the speaker clicking, although the ball moved. It was really annoying. However, Apple replaced it without fuss so good on them. I've also had problems with my iBook's Combo Drive. A while ago, when I was ejecting a CD, it got stuck halfway. It was still in the slot, and I couldn't touch it. I had to use a pin to ease the CD out. As it came out, there was a strip of black rubber padding stuck to the CD. The rubber bit had adhesive on one side, which the CD must have snagged. I think that rubber must have been a bumper or something, because since then CDs seem to spin up really noisily and burning them takes longer than normal. The only other problem I've had is a single stuck pixel (pink) in the lower left/middle of my screen. It doesn't really bug me much because it only shows up on dark backgrounds.

Tips I would give to fellow switchers with their iBooks:
-Get an external keyboard/mouse for home if you're going to be doing the majority of your computing there. You'll appreciate the bigger kb and the precision of the mouse, as well as keeping your iBook's keyboard clean.

-Get yourself a zip-up sleeve to keep your iBook from scratching against your keys in your bag. Make sure you get one that shields the zipper on the inside of the case from getting at your iBook.

-Be careful when removing and putting the keyboard back. If you have to strain, you're probably going to snap something; you shouldn't need force. Just wiggle it back into place.

Sorry, don't really know the point of this thread, just thanks to everyone who helped me get switched.

macrumors 6502a

I joined MacRumors in May of 2003, and bought my first Mac, the iBook in my sig below in December of the same year. Between the time I joined, and the time that I bought my iBook, I got tons of info and suggestions from these forums. So almost 2 years later, here's where things stand.

Click to expand...

Thats a cool story, thanks!

My first mac experience was cool, i'd been using windows for years and swore my it (dare I say), my father who repairs macs always said the macs were better that windows and I would never agree, always defending microsoft. Then I got a computer job that involved fixing macs, I decided after repairing a fair few 15" AluBooks that I needed one and that my pc was no longer cool.

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